Chapter 7

"Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather beneath the Highledge for a Clan meeting." Russetstar's call echoed through the hollow as the dawn sun cracked the sky. Snowpaw's white pelt was littered with moss from her nest, but she didn't notice until had left the den and sat next to the other apprentices closer to the front.

"Decide to bring your nest with you?" Coldpaw asked as she sat beside her brother, who was occasionally glancing at Flameheart. Frostpaw was closer to a group of slightly arguing warriors consisting of the majority of the senior warriors and Coalfur. Sandpaw and Dustpaw were sitting close to Frostpaw, with Graypaw and Moonpaw nearby. Roughpaw was clearly sharing a joke or two with Coldpaw, but Snowpaw took no notice of the toms.

"Now is the time for one of my favorite ceremonies," Russetstar meowed as Sparkkit, Flarekit bounced forward with Spotkit, and Leafkit followed a little more slowly. Their pelts shimmered in the morning light. "I ask my warrior ancestors to look down on these kits, who wish to become warriors of FireClan. Flarekit, Spotkit, and Leafkit, form this day forth, until you have earned our warrior names, you shall be known as Flarepaw, Spotpaw, and Leafpaw." The new apprentices started mewling and cuffing each other over the ears.

As the commotion quieted down, Russetstar continued, "Thunderwhisker, you will mentor Flarepaw. You were an excellent mentor to Redcloud and turned him into a warrior FireClan is proud of." the leader hesitated for a heartbeat. "Thunderwhisker, Tawnycloud was your mentor, and I hope that you pass on your dedication and strength to this apprentice." Thunderwhisker stepped forward to touch noses with his new apprentice, a good-humored sparkle in his eyes.

"Fireflower, you are ready for your first apprentice, you will mentor Spotpaw. Mossbrook was your mentor. I hope that her courage and humility pass through you to your apprentice." As Fireflower and Spotpaw touched noses, Leafpaw stepped up, slightly shaking. "Icewhisker, you are ready for your second apprentice, even if it didn't last very long. Your mentor was Silverclaw. I hope that her kindness and loyalty pass through you to your apprentice. "

"Spotpaw! Flarepaw! Leafpaw!" The Clan chanted.

"Cats of FireClan," Cinderleaf meowed, her ash gray pelt groomed neatly as if she were going to have her warrior's ceremony. "I have decided to take on an apprentice. I have spoke with StarClan, and they have approved of my choice. Sparkpaw will be FireClan's medicine cat apprentice.

"Sparkpaw, Sparkpaw." Snowpaw called, watching the apprentice stand up in pride, his pelt a speck of flame in the rising sun.

"Snowpaw." Frostclaw called her white pelt almost blinding. "Ringtail wants us on a border patrol with him, Icewhisker and Thunderwhisker." Snowpaw sighed as the morning sun reflected off her snow-white pelt.

"This is the EarthClan border." Icewhisker meowed to Leafpaw and Spotpaw. Snowpaw suppressed an mrrow of laughter as the two young apprentices commented about the stench the Clan had. Ringtail paused, his fur slightly brushing up against Frostclaw, for almost even a slightest heartbeat. Snowpaw watched as Icewhisker glanced at the deputy, an unnoticed emotion flashing though her clear emerald eyes. Tension crackled between the two toms present, not paying attention to the two siblings who were starting to wander.

"Spotpaw," Snowpaw meowed quietly, hoping to catch the young she-cat's attention. The young brown apprentices paused, glancing back before blending into the forest. Looking at the only other apprentice on the patrol, Dustpaw, the two apprentices disappeared following the two young cats. Dustpaw, the apprentice's older brother swiftly and carefully padded though the undergrowth, pausing when the rank of EarthClan hit the couple's noses.

"They must have crossed the border." He hissed, probably thinking that his siblings were going to be killed if caught on the other Clan's territory.

"Let's go then." Snowpaw said, ignoring the boarder. She paused when Dustpaw didn't follow her.

"No, I'll go, they're my siblings and if you come, a patrol will see us too easily. " Dustpaw meowed, passing the white she-cat who was puffed up in fury.

"I'm going," Snowpaw hissed, catching up with him. "How would I be able to explain to our mentors that I just let you cross the border alone if you don't come back?"

"Fine." Dustpaw hissed, rolling his eyes, "but stay quiet. " Snowpaw nodded, carefully placing her paws so she wouldn't step on any twigs if there were any.

"Trespasser," a she-cat's yowl split the silence. Snowpaw was caught off guard as a dark ginger apprentice launched into her, bringing the white FireClan apprentice onto her back.

"Snowpaw are you…"Dustpaw was cut off as a dark mass hurdled into him. He hissed, biting his attacker's ear. Snowpaw turned her attention to her own attacker, allowing her body to go slightly limp, but that didn't fool this she-cat.

"You coward." She hissed, as she brought a sheathed paw down on Snowpaw's head, but the pain was minimal, due to the weak strength of her attacker. Snowpaw unsheathed her claws, letting her hind claws dig into the she-cat's soft belly.

Suddenly, the she-cat leapt off Snowpaw as two older cats, clearly warriors stalked into the shade, both ginger toms. Before Snowpaw could get to her paws, the she-cat's paw was firmly planted on her white throat.

"Well done Aspenpaw, Owlpaw." One of the toms said. A charcoal gray mask surrounded his sharp, almost handsome blue eyes. The other, a smaller tom hissed as he closed his mouth, his comrade clearly had beaten him to congratulating their apprentices. "Patience, Squirrelfur." The other tom meowed, his white tipped tail twitching.

"What are you doing here?" Squirrelfur hissed. His ginger pelt was very visible in the shadow of the forest.

"We're looking for two apprentices who wandered across the border. " Dustpaw hissed before Snowpaw could speak.

"So FireClan hasn't changed, they still don't teach their apprentices where the boarders are." The older tom meowed, sarcasm flickering in his crystals.

"What do you want us to do with them, Shademask?" the she-cat asked her mentor. The tom just looked at the two apprentices.

"That's for Bramblestar to decide." The ginger warrior meowed, flicking his tail and turning to Squirrelfur and whispered something in the tom's ear. The ginger tabby nodded and shoved Dustpaw to his paws, and flicked his tail for the two apprentices to do the same with Snowpaw. The two cats roughly hauled the white she-cat to her feet and shoved her in the direction of Dustpaw, who hissed as he was shoved forward as if he were a boulder being moved.

"This is where their trail stops." Snowpaw heard her father's voice not far off, in the direction of the boarder. Snowpaw looked at Dustpaw, who clearly heard the gray tom's distant voice too, but laid his tail over her mouth. Snowpaw relaxed slightly as she padded behind the EarthClan warrior and beside Dustpaw. She knew and hoped that with her Clanmate by her side, nothing bad would happen to her.

"Aspenpaw, go ahead and alert Bramblestar." Squirrelfur meowed as the apprentice twisted her face in disgust at the warrior's request. Looking toward her mentor, who only nodded, she sighed and trotted toward a barrier that reeked heavily of EarthClan.

"Bramblestar, we found more." The she-cat meowed to a dark tabby tom, who looked slightly like the she-cat. A ginger she-cat looked up from sharing tongues with the tom. She looked like she was going to scold Aspenpaw, as a mother would scold her disobedient kit, until she saw the FireClan apprentices.

"Well, well, is FireClan determined to lose all of its apprentices in one day?" The leader's cold voice meowed; glancing toward a bush where an elderly black she-cat was hurrying two apprentice sized brown tabbies deeper into the den. Leafpaw, Spotpaw. Snowpaw thought as the she-cat's mind processed the familiar figures.

"What should we do with them?" a silver tom, who Snowpaw guessed was Silverlilly based on the description Frostpaw had given her when he described the time the two had met in battle. "The Elder's Den can't hold all four of them and Blackcloud."

"They should see me first off." A silver she-cat mewed, only slightly smaller than the silver tom. "Silverlilly, you're not leader yet, remember that."

"You're not mother, Flashleaf." Silverlilly hissed, turning on the silver she-cat. The ginger she-cat who was watching beside the leader pressed her fur against the dark tabby's, her green eyes clearly frightened by the deputy's outburst toward the medicine cat.

"Take them to the Elder's den with the others." Bramblestar meowed, dismissing the many warriors who had gathered, drawn in by the scent of prisoners. "I'll decide what to do with them at sunset."

"Do you know how much danger you put us in?" Dustpaw hissed at a frightened Spotpaw, who was up against the wall of their prison. The tiny tabby nodded her head, to scared to reply to her brother.

"Dustpaw…"Snowpaw whispered, "Shut up…" the shush immediately shut up the older apprentice as low murmuring came from the next den. The elder, Blackcloud, was curled up in a corner opposite to Dustpaw.

"Bramblestar," a warrior called,

Careful not to wake the elder, Snowpaw moved softly to the entrance of the den, glancing though the opening. An EarthClan patrol had several good-sized warriors encircled along with a familiar kit-sized form near a dark gray one. Frostpaw. Snowpaw thought. Had a FireClan patrol accidently crossed the border and been caught as prisoners to? Snowpaw ducked behind the wall as a dark gray tom trotted toward the den, a ginger tom tailing him.

"Come on, lazy lumps of fur." The dark gray tom hissed, almost teasingly, picking up Spotpaw who was rooted to the spot as the other tom shoved Leafpaw out of the den. The brown tabby tom hissed, but didn't lash out at his captor, fear brimming in his amber eyes when he saw the patrol of FireClan warriors. Were they going to be slaughtered in front of their Clanmates? Watching the cats gather around her, she slightly brushed her white pelt against Dustpaw's tabby one. When her emerald crystals met his amber ones, the tabby tom pulled slightly ahead.

When they were on the territory boarder, watching the patrol consisting of the ginger tom, the dark gray tom, and Aspenpaw, disappear into their territory, Ringtail, Thunderwhisker, Icewhisker, and Frostclaw looked at the four apprentices. Frostpaw as standing next to Coalfur, silent and still as a rock, his eyes shining in dismay. "Coalfur," Ringtail meowed calmly at the younger warrior, "Take Frostpaw back to camp." Snowpaw watched as the young warrior's shoulders dropped as the deputy told him go back to camp.

"But," Coalfur began but immediately thought better of it. "Come on Frostpaw," he meowed to his apprentice, turning and padding back to camp with the small white apprentice.

When the two toms' scents became faint, Ringtail turned to the four remaining apprentices, glaring at Dustpaw for a long period. "I should expect better of all of you, especially Dustpaw." He hissed his amber eyes lit up in the fading sunlight.

"You had us worried," Icewhisker mewed, her voice quiet and blue eyes still shining with fright. "You should have told us that y o u were going to look for them." By 'them', Snowpaw knew that her mother meant the newer apprentices.

"They were my siblings." Dustpaw meowed, "Mousewhisker would have my tail if she knew I didn't go look for them." The tabby tom shrank back when his mentor turned to look at him. The normally calm deputy's eyes were burning into Dustpaw's, anger and fear reflecting in both toms eyes.

"Ringtail," Frostclaw meowed, her tone calm, her eyes brimming with…affection. "Why don't you let Russetstar handle the apprentices?"

"Alright Frostclaw, but Russetstar might be harsher than I would." The deputy sighed as he stepped back. "Get back to camp, all of you." Ringtail meowed.

"Snowpaw," Thunderwhisker's voice sounded, making the she-cat jump, she had forgotten her father was present. "Why did you follow Dustpaw?" Snowpaw flinched when she looked into her father's amber eyes.

"He followed me actually. When we got to the boarder, he told me to go back, but I told him that I wouldn't go back unless he went with me. "The she-cat meowed, as her father walked beside her. "It's my fault we go caught."

"It's not your fault, "he meowed, softly, cuffing her over the ears. "You're just being a mousebrain."

"Bring them in, Ringtail." Russetstar's meow sounded from deep inside her cave.

"Go on," Ringtail meowed, following the four apprentices into the den. It smelled richly of fresh-kill. Squinting her green eyes, she could slightly see her leader's ginger form laying in her nest.

"Go ahead, eat." The leader meowed, eyeing the apprentices as they noticed the two mice in front of them. Looking at the deputy, who nodded, the four apprentices sat down, tearing into the fresh-kill. When they had finished, Russetstar looked at Ringtail, whose tail was wrapped neatly around his paws. "I heard you four had quite an adventure today." Russetstar mewed, sounding half amused.

"Yes, we did, Russetstar." Spotpaw squeaked, but unfortunately looked at her older brother who was glaring at the she-cat.

"You know what you've done." Russetstar meowed, "and you know what the punishment is." The older apprentices nodded, but the two siblings just stared at the leader in fear. I wonder if they think Russetstar is going to banish them. Snowpaw thought humorously.

"Before Russetstar decides on the punishment," Ringtail meowed, his tail slightly lashing. "You can have a chance to explain yourselves."

"We just wanted a little adventure." Leafpaw meowed, his meow highly pitched. "Our mentors were just standing there, and not paying attention, so we decided to go explore. We didn't know we had crossed the border until we were caught by a patrol. "

"I saw Spotpaw and Leafpaw wander off, so I followed them, and Dustpaw followed me." Snowpaw meowed, glancing at the tom. "When we crossed the border, he told me to go back but I said I wouldn't let him go alone."

"Well," Russetstar said softly flicking her tail in thought. "I'm pleased that you told what I'd hope to be the truth, but I can't say that the truth won't go unpunished. EarthClan won't be very happy if you're at the next Gathering. Ringtail, what do you think?" the leader looked at her deputy, her green eyes sparkling in the shadows. "You four are dismissed."